Just when you thought you’d seen it all, the video game industry has the opportunity to pull an unexpected ace out of its sleeve. It happened a few years ago with Vampire Survivors and this year with Balatro. The latter is based on poker, where the game of chance serves as the starting point for the tornado of a roguelike game that takes your breath away. Royal Card Clash from Danish studio Gearhead Game is nowhere near as ambitious. The game follows the line of relaxing solitaire, but doesn’t revolutionize the genre.
Royal Card Clash is full of revolutionary energy because, in a way, it’s about dethroning the monarchy. It uses a deck of cards. The 16 face cards are divided into three columns. By removing and playing those with numbers, you can use them to gradually deplete the lifespan of the people in the columns (the kings have 25, the queens 20 and the jacks 15). When these reach zero, they are eliminated and the next one takes their place one by one. It’s not about playing darts, so you don’t have to take away all the life, but the last blow must be made with a card of the same suit as the face card you want to defeat.
You draw three cards per turn, and since there is no time limit, the tactical dimension is based on wisely distributing the damage of each card. Since only one set of cards is used per game, you can also count them and plan strategically. In my case, I didn’t do that (or rather, I couldn’t), but it’s useful to keep an eye on how many aces are hidden in the deck, as they automatically keep the royalty at 1 life. It’s also advisable to use the discard pile, as you can put a card there for later use.
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To continue with the terminology, this revolution is clearly bourgeois, it is not even a little bit socialist. In this case, the monarchy is being driven out, but capitalism is not going the same way. You can watch the advertisements to get up to three new decks of cards, or you can even get an extra deck of cards once per game. Such monetization is fair because it basically doesn’t ruin the game, and for a modest price of $2.99 you can “cheat” without having to watch the advertisements for Temy and Last War: Survival Game.
Whatever you invest, time and/or money, Royal Card Clash is a fun way to pass the time. Pixel graphics do their own thing and I especially like how the drawings on the front of the cards move. The tune is a bit monotonous as it plays in a loop but it’s probably one of those games you open for those moments on the train or while your partner is playing in front of the TV. Regardless of whether you win or lose, unlocking new difficulty levels continues and doesn’t seem to get more complex with each new game. If there had been an optional time limit or something similar, there might have been a bit more tactical depth.
Windows 7 Card Solitaire was one of the most played games for years, even before social media and online shopping became serial killers of productivity. I doubt Royal Card Clash will reach the same status, but if you’re looking for some simple entertainment for your subway rides or just going to the bathroom, it’s worth downloading or playing from Poki.com.
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